Heretofore the manufacture of garment belts on a mass production basis has typically involved cutting leather or other flexible material into straps, forming the straps in the desired shape, and mounting a buckle thereon. One of the most common and highly sought after materials for making garment belts are animal hides, e.g., cowhide, a relative expensive base material. In order to keep costs down, while still providing the appearance of an expensive leather belt and the ability to label it as a leather belt, the belt may be fabricated of a high quality elongated strap of man-made material, e.g., vinyl or polyurethane, having an aesthetically pleasing appearance, e.g., one that replicates fine leather. The inside surface of the strap includes one or more strips of leather secured thereto on opposite sides of a longitudinal center-line of the strap, whereupon the top surface of the strip(s) form a portion of the inner surface of the strap. An adhesive, e.g., a water-based latex, is applied over any exposed portions of the entire inner surface of the strap and over the entire top surface of the leather strip(s). The strap, with the strip(s) secured is then folded over itself along its longitudinal center-line so that the longitudinal marginal edges of the strap are aligned with and abut each other to form a belt whose inner and outer surfaces are the outer surface of the strap, and with the leather strip(s) interposed therebetween and forming a core for the belt. A buckle is then typically mounted on one end portion of the belt by folding the buckle-forming end of the belt over itself and mounting the buckle at that folded end. Since the folding over of this end portion of the belt naturally increases the belt thickness to double its normal thickness, the folded over portion may be thinned down or "skived" by any conventional machine.
While the foregoing techniques for making belts and the belts produced thereby can present a quite aesthetically pleasing appearance and a good "hand-feel" (the belt feels rich and supple when held by a person), they still leave something to be desired from the standpoint of ease of manufacture, consistency of the resulting belts, and aesthetic appearance. For example, when the strap is folded over along its central longitudinal fold line, the two portions of the strap extending along either side of the fold line may not be precisely aligned so that their marginal edges do not perfectly overlie each other. Such a misalignment will naturally detract from the fine appearance the belt is desired to exhibit. Moreover, when the buckle forming end of the belt is folded over to mount the buckle, the folded over portion may have to be reduced in thickness, e.g., cut-away or skived, to prevent that end portion of the belt from being unsightly or uncomfortable.
Accordingly, a need exists for a garment belt and method of making the same that overcomes those disadvantages of the prior art.